Relocating Violence: A Reflection on the Mapping of Colonial Traces in Italy

Abstract

In Italy, colonial history and its consequences are often overlooked in public debates or confined to academic research and anti-racist activist movements. However, the Italian colonial empire left a large number of material traces across the country, among them street names, monuments, and buildings. Initiated in Florence in 2018 by myself and fellow researcher Markus Wurzer, “Postcolonial Italy: Mapping Colonial Heritage” is an online project that captures and documents these traces, with the aim of raising historical awareness and stimulating debate about Italy’s colonial past and its legacies.

Keywords

• Italy
• colonial history
• heritage
• Florence